El Clasico: Preview

Barcelona and Real Madrid are both currently unbeaten in La Liga this season, separated only by goal difference. It is worth noting that La Liga’s first tie break is head-to-head, which makes this mouth-watering clash even more crucial for both sides in their quest to become the Champions of Spain.

Real Madrid are unbeaten in all competitions, making their best start to a season since 1968/69. Rudiger’s warrior like header vs Shakhtar in added time made it 12 games without a defeat for Los Blancos heading into El Clasico. The German international will play with a mask during the game, as pictured in training. However, Real Madrid will be without Thibaut Courtois for the clash, as he has been described ‘not quite match fit’ by Carlo Ancelotti. This is obviously a huge miss for the current European Champions. The goalkeeper is expected to pick up the Yachine Award at the France Football ceremony on Monday. Andriy Lunin, Ukraine international will replace the Belgium international for Sunday’s game, he is labelled as a ‘modern day goalkeeper’ due to his excellent ball playing abilities, on the other hand, there are some concerns with his positioning and box commanding ability. Tchouameni, the €80m summer signing from Monaco who has greatly impressed whilst being tasked with replacing the legendary Casemiro will make his El Clasico debut, expected to form a trio with Kroos and Modric, ‘KTM’. 

Real Madrid’s expected XI:

Lunin; Carvajal, Militao, Alaba, Mendy; Modric, Tchouameni, Kroos; Valverde, Benzema and Vinicius.

Carlo Ancelotti is expected to trust the back four and the attacking trio that won him the Champions League and La Liga double last season once again. As usual, Real Madrid will look to Toni Kroos and Luka Modric to assert the tempo of the game to fit Real Madrid, now aided by the signing of Tchouameni, whilst relying on Vinicius Jr to progressively carry the ball and create danger. Carlo Ancelotti will be hoping that Karim Benzema who is expected to pick up the Ballon d’Or a day after the Clasico will find his shooting boots from last season. 

ONE TO WATCH: Federico Valverde.

Barcelona come into this game with a heart-break sensation after the draw in the Champions League vs Inter Milan, leaving them an Inter Milan win vs Viktoria Plzen away from being eliminated into Europa League for the second season running. On the other hand, their results in La Liga have been impressive. They have only conceded 1 goal in 8 La Liga games this season, with the revived Marc-André ter Stegen contributing significantly to this record. Barcelona will be without Bellerin, Depay and most notably Christensen and Araujo for this fixture, with the latter two being devastating misses for La Blaugrana. On the positive side, Xavi has confirmed that Kounde has recovered and is expected to start in El Clasico. It will remain to be seen whether calls from the Barcelona fanbase to leave Pique, Busquets and Jordi Alba on the bench in favour of players like Frenkie de Jong and Alejandro Balde come to fruition. 

Barcelona’s expected XI:

Ter Stegen; Balde, Kounde, Eric Garcia, Alonso; Gavi, Busquets, Pedri; Raphinha, Lewandowski and Ousmane Dembele.

According to AS, Xavi has set the task for Alejandro Balde to battle vs Vinicius Jr. He is expected to continue trusting the midfield trio that he has prioritised this season. The 19 year old Pedri continues to be one of the most outstanding players this season, often finding himself near the top of both progressive passes and progressive carries per game. Xavi will be hoping his goalscoring talisman, Robert Lewandowski will continue his scoring streak which has seen him find the net 14 times in 12 games this season.

ONE TO WATCH: Pedri.

This match-up promises to be exciting, with both teams wanting to grab the all-important win. A Real Madrid win could see Barcelona’s week be remembered a historic heartbreak, as they are already on the brink of Champions League elimination. A Barcelona win could see their season be revitalized, with focus shifting on becoming the Spanish Champions for the first time since 2019. A draw would keep Barcelona ahead of Real Madrid on goal difference, but this is never what these rivals come and play for. Another legendary battle awaits.